The Covasettes' new EP makes lost love sound damn good
Written by: Brooke Eboule
"I don’t have a life outside of music,” says The Covasettes’ bassist and producer, Jamie McIntyre, as we ease into our conversation ahead of the November release of the Manchester-based band’s third EP, "What’s Lost Is Ours to Find." There’s a tinge of humour in his delivery, but it’s also just a point of fact. As a full-time music producer, he handles all recordings for the four-piece – composed of Jamie, frontman Chris Buxton, lead guitarist Matt Hewlett, and drummer Matt Buckley – along with other bands.
“I wake up, head down to the studio, and here I am, all day, every day,” he says. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s me living my absolute dream, as far as I’m concerned.” He's always known he'd need to make music a career “because there was nothing else worth doing”. Well, except for a brief period when he considered becoming a physicist. “I thought having a physics degree would make me highly employable,” he recalls. “But then I realized, I don’t want to be employable. I want to make music.”
The way he expresses it makes me chuckle. There’s a breezy wryness to it, reminiscent of my initial online interaction with the band. I shared a post referencing their 2018 single ‘Top Drawer’. Or so I thought. Instead, I earned a two-word dry roast QRT from the guys, simply repeating what I’d actually called the song: “Top Shelf”. Doh! The memory still brings a cringe of embarrassment, but their response reflects the effortlessly cheeky banter I've come to expect (and appreciate) from a band whose X and Instagram bio reads “Live, Laugh, Love”.
Serious and Silly
Between the band’s social media presence and the glimpses Jamie shares with me, it’s evident that the Covasettes are earnest about their craft, yet the members don’t take themselves too seriously. They enjoy themselves with each other and their fans. This playfulness is evident in the band’s jubilant live energy, in their on-stage chemistry and interactions. Meanwhile, the seriousness emerges in their adept handling of instruments; a comfort and musicality reflecting years of honed experience. It's evident in the quality of their music.
The blend of seriousness and silliness seems especially pronounced in frontman Chris’ demeanor. Not everyone could pull off a lyric like “I watch as you play ostentatious” without sounding pretentious. On one hand, his mind is primarily responsible for a big part of what makes the Covasettes’ songs what they are for language-loving lyrics girlies like me. He’s got an uncanny knack for telling vivid stories with emotional depth, crafting unique turns of phrase and interesting metaphors. On the other hand, he’s downright goofy in ways that come across
as both self-aware and endearing. From tossing an unreciprocated “love you” to a radio host before signing off from an interview to sharing clips of heartbreak songs he’s composed about his beloved (and now departed) cream Crocs.
By day, Chris works in law. “I don’t fully understand what his job is,” Jamie admits.“It sounds very complicated and I know he’s extremely good at it because I’ve met some of his colleagues and they always talk very highly of him, but it always goes right over my head. I have no idea what he’s up to on a Monday to Friday.” By night, Chris slings a guitar as Peto Bismol pink as the vinyl of the band’s new EP and chats it up between songs. His on-stage banter oscillates between light-hearted, almost self-deprecation and a playful, confident swagger that flirts with bravado. “When I saw we were on so late, I thought it might just be my mom and dad again,” he quipped when the band performed as headliners at Belgrave Music Hall during Live at Leeds in October. “Went out drinking last night,” he later shared with the audience. “Kissed a 50-year-old married woman.”
Part Luck, Pure Determination
With year over year growth since their debut single, ‘This Feeling’, in 2017, 2023 marked the Covasettes’ most significant year. They embarked on two UK headline tours, participated in prominent indie music festivals like Truck, Y Not, and Tramlines in the UK, and performed at a festival in the Netherlands. They supported indie luminaries like Overpass, Crystal Tides, and Sundara Karma. And of course, they released the new EP. The band wrapped up the year with as part of an absolutely stacked lineup at the Year’s End Fest in Manchester on December 9.
Throughout our conversation, Jamie frequently refers to the band’s luck, from meeting in university to living and creating music together during the pandemic, to how his and Matt Buckley’s day jobs directly benefit the band. “Buck works getting equipment out to festivals, like lighting and sound tech,” Jamie explains. “It’s no secret that touring is not a cheap thing to do so we often hire stuff from Buck’s company for drastically reduced rates. It lets us put on a show that’s just that much better.”
Luck is a matter of perspective and attitude, however (per science), and the Covasettes tend to take things in stride. The band found themselves longlisted for Glastonbury – the king of UK festivals – in 2020. Unfortunately, the festival didn’t happen that year, and when it resumed in 2022, the organizers had a new list of lineup potentials. The Covasettes weren’t on it. Jamie simply views this as a setback that aligned with what all artists were facing at that time. Lucky or not, being part of a self-sustaining independent band requires a lot of work, much of which is unrelated to the music itself. “We all kind of have our own roles at this point,” says Jamie. “Everyone’s sort of fallen into doing the things that they’re good at, playing to our strengths”.
Plus, commanding a crowd isn’t something that just happens by chance. “It’s like a muscle,” Jamie says. If you’re going to become good at performing, get good at engaging crowds, you’ve got to work at it. When we started, we said yes to almost everything. Some things we probably shouldn’t have done, Like, we did a support gig for a tribute band for a prog metal group, which is probably one of the stranger choices, to have us support. But you have to just throw yourself in.”
Jamie knows all too well that bands need pubs and grassroots venues of different sizes to cut their teeth, earn their stripes, and work their way up to bigger crowds in bigger venues. “If there are only three left, there’s nowhere to do that,” he laments. Small venues in the UK continue to disappear at an alarming rate, and the Covasettes experienced this firsthand when they concluded their September tour with the final performance at Jimmy’s in Liverpool, just before the venue permanently closed. “Without places like that, I honestly don’t know how new bands are supposed to start,” Jamie reflects. “We wouldn’t be where we are without venues like that. Jimmy’s in Manchester, the old one… we did countless gigs there. That’s where we met our current touring sound engineer and many people in the industry.”
Speaking of industry, “Matt’s got a very boring job,” is all Jamie really shares about Matt Hewlett’s day job. Fortunately, Matt’s role in the band is far from mundane. The Covasettes wouldn’t be the Covasettes without their irresistible guitar-driven soundscapes, and What’s Lost Is Ours to Find is flush with them.
What’s Lost Is Ours to Find
"What’s Lost Is Ours to Find" is the Covasettes’ third EP, following 2019’s "It’s Always Sunny Above the Clouds" and 2021’s "The Cova Guide to Sunset Vibes." “As a collection of songs, this is what we’re proudest of so far,” Jamie says. “We’re still proud of our other EPs, but if you compare them to this, it’s orders of magnitude of growth. We’ve learned alot, but also it’s just the way that everything flows into each other really nicely. It tells a story the whole way through. You feel that build. You’re going to love it.”
He’s not wrong. It’s not often you hear songs about heartbreak described as “euphoric” or “whimsical,” but those are apt descriptions of the EP as a whole. It’s a curated assembly of buoyant indie rock, laden with potent pop melodies offset by sharp, genuine lyrics about lost love that grip and ground the listener. The end result is a strangely gratifying jaunt through the stages of breakup-related grief. In other words, the Covasettes make lost love sound damn good in this EP.
“I’ve actually not thought about the five stages thing before, but it fits quite well,” remarks Jamie, shortly after comparing the EP’s previously unreleased tracks ‘Heart & Soul’ and ‘Stung’ to the anger and depression stages, respectively. “It wasn’t intentional, but maybe we’ll pretend it was,” he adds, smiling. Undeniably, there’s an element of denial in the anguished lyrics of the EP’s first single, ‘Duvet Thief’, despite its lively, danceable energy. Both August’s ‘Say What You See’ and October’s ‘The Memory Chaser’ aren’t depressing to listen to, but the lyrics brim with heartache. Even the title of the closing track, ‘That’s That’, implies growing acceptance.
‘That’s That’ ranks among the “weirder” things the band has done, Jamie shares, adding, “it’s a great way to conclude the EP.” However, the recording process was somewhat of a comedy of errors. “We decided to record live, so it’s just Chris on his acoustic, singing” Jamie explains. “Bless him, it must be the most work he’s ever done in recording for such a small output of music.” Round 1- 45 minutes. Biffed string ruins the take. Round 2 - 30 minutes. Chris leaves the tuner on, so the guitar doesn’t record. Finally, in round 3, they get a perfect take. “It’s about feeling worn out, you’ve been through the ringer, you’ve taken a beating,” explains Jamie. “So, I think it helped get that feeling from it. It injected some of that tiredness and worn out feeling into it, so it worked out perfectly.” Indeed, the finished product packs a rather outsized emotional punch for its one minute and 39 second run time.
Jamie doesn’t mention it when we’re chatting, but the EP apparently has a bonus track called ‘One Tear At a Time’, exclusively available on the limited edition vinyl copies of the EP, sold through the Covasettes’ website. Mine hasn't quite made it over the Atlantic yet, so I can't be sure the seventh track isn’t actually another ode to Chris’ crocs, immortalized on PVC.
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Next up for the Covasettes is Gorrilafest: Winter Edition in Mexoborough, UK on February 3.
Want more insights and anecdotes from my chat with Jamie? Why not cue up What’s Lost Is Ours to Find on your preferred streaming platform right now, and check out the Deep Dive with Jamie from the Covasettes. You’ll find out what unexpected instrument you might hear in a future Covasettes banger, how the pandemic benefitted the band, where Chris thinks songs come from, why Jamie thinks there’s never been a better time to be a musician, and what oddly specific nicknames he’d give his bandmates.
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